A Day In The Life Of
by FrenchFryGirl
Summary: Everyone knows the Four Sword Links, right? So, it would be very easy to guess what their daily lives are like, right? But, what about their shadowy counterparts? After all, you can't have four Links and only one Shadow Link, now can you?
1. Shadow Link Day Before

**A Day In The Life Of… (Shadow Link)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend Of Zelda series.**

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><p>Shadow Link was slowly picking his way through the forests of the Dark World. Or Shadow Realm, or whatever you prefer to call it. Brushing some deep violet locks from his face he carefully studied his map again. Deep blue eyes carefully scanned over every little detail. Now, was he supposed to go right here, or left? He sighed and groaned at the same time, rolling up his map and sticking it back in his oversized backpack. And to think that a few days ago he had been resting peacefully in his room in Zelda's Castle.<p>

Shadow sighed again and slowly stopped walking, taking in his surroundings and thinking about his current situation.

A few months after Green, Red, Blue, and Vio(let) Link had put back the Four (Now Five) Sword, Green, (Or the original Link or whatever you want to call him) had gotten very depressed without his team by his side, pulled out the Four Sword again. Zelda was not very happy about this but tolerated it, knowing that it was the best way to cheer her best friend up, and let the four of them stay.

Shadow had come back a little while later. And, after a lot of questioning, a few arguments, and a long trial in which Zelda and Vio defended him more vehemently than he thought they would, Zelda's father relented and allowed him to stay.

Link's father, Darren, was not completely okay with this at first, but slowly the relationship between the two seemed to heal.

Shadow was surprised at how quickly he was forgiven and reaccepted back into the group. Not that he was complaining, of course. It just gave him the feeling that there was something that they weren't telling him.

That was around the time when the problems started.

Somehow, a "portal" of sorts had opened up to Earth, probably through the bits and pieces of the shattered Dark Mirror that were scattered all over the place. If those pieces somehow found their way to Earth it would be very easy for someone to fix the mirror and worm their way into the Dark World (Shadow Realm, whatever), and therefore, through many more natural portals, Hyrule.

Of course, said mirror shards just _had_ to wind up in the hands of several The Legend Of Zelda series fangirls. More specifically, Four/Five Swords Adventures fangirls. This obviously spelt trouble for said swordsmen.

However, these were not the completely random, spazzy, completely insane groups of fangirls that most people think of. Well, some of them were, but not all of them. Most of these girls (and the occasional boy,) were okay.

Even after trying to chase them out for who knows how long, most of them were so deeply involved in everything there that the Links and Princess Zelda saw no trouble in letting them stay.

One such fangirl was Rissa, who was apparently one of the leaders of the fangirls, having owned part of the ClubHouse.

Her brother, Greg, and her three cousins Alana, who was the girl a year older than her, Naty, who the girl a year younger than her, and Jare, their older brother who wasn't around often, co-owned the ClubHouse with her.

The Links and Princess Zelda had become fast friends with her and her brother and cousins in the first few days that they were there.

It was on one of her visits to Hyrule, that Shadow Link had gotten a letter saying that he was needed at home. Not really needed, _needed_, per say, it was more that everyone had missed him and he had told them that he would came visit every once and a while.

No, it wasn't the various monsters and assorted enemies and bosses of Hyrule, if that's what you were thinking.

No, this letter had come from his cousins. Well, they were more like brothers, really. But, they weren't exactly his brothers either.

It was kind of hard to explain.

But, then again, what sense would it make to have four Links instead of one, but only one Shadow Link? His cousins were none other than the Shadow Fourswordsmen themselves! However, not that many people knew about them, of course.

You see, before Shadow Link was used by Ganondorf and Vaati to fight against the Links, he used to live with his cousins. After Ganondorf had attacked and taken them over, he decided to use only Shadow, who had been vehemently defending his cousins. However, he had managed to knock Shadow out and seal his "cousins" away into the Dark Four Sword. After that Ganondorf and Vaati had made Shadow completely forget about his "cousins" by mind-wiping and brainwashing him.

Later, after the whole Four/Five Swords fiasco and the fangirls/boys near disaster, Rissa had been traveling the Shadow Realm with Shadow, interested in learning more about the mysterious Realm, considering it was one of the most unexplained places in the manga and the games.

Somehow, Rissa had come across a book about the Four/Five Sword(s) and found a place in the back about the Dark Four Sword. So, since the book didn't have much on it, she had somehow convinced Shadow to go on a little exploration trip looking all over kingdom come for the thing.

They found the sword, right by Shadow Links old house no less, though he didn't remember that, right where Ganondorf had left it, not that he would remember that either.

Once they found it Rissa got that crazy look in her eyes, and had a grin plastered on to her face. After a few chanting shouts of, 'Pull it! Pull it! Pull It!', which Shadow had seriously been considering in the first place, he found he himself standing near the pedestal hands wrapped firmly around the sword, he slightly wondered if this was how Green (Link, whatever) felt before he pulled out the Four/Five Sword. The sword slid out easily into his grasp as he raised it up high into the air, _almost exactly_ mirroring Green/Link at the start of his adventure.

After an awkward splitting process, strange (re)introductions, and a short adventure later, the Dark Fourswordsmen where together once again.

In fact, during the course of the adventure to find out the secrets behind the Dark Four Sword, each of the Shadow Links had regained their memory.

After this, of course, Shadow Link had gone back with Rissa to Hyrule, as he had already settled into Hyrule Castle with the other Links and Princess Zelda, which left the other Shadow in the Dark World/Shadow Realm back in their old house, as they chose to stay.

However, Shadow did tell them that he would come to visit them sometime.

Which led him to where he was now.

Shadow sighed as he glanced around at his surroundings again trying to get a feel for where he was at. There was no Rissa to give him directions this time, no matter how bad she was with a map.

Shadow sighed again as he shook his head and started walking slightly to his right, trying to remember which way to go on the brow-beaten path. He quickly walked along the slight trail that was starting to reveal itself. He hefted his backpack, which really more of the kind that hikers used up higher on to his shoulders. Even in the Shadow Realm it was getting late, and he didn't quite feel like camping out again. He realized that as he was walking, the old weather beaten trail was starting to reveal itself more and more, and he found himself walking the trail almost automatically out of memory. Shadow carefully brushed some more branches away from himself, trying not to let them whack him in the face. He hoped that nothing poisonous had grown up around the area. He didn't remember anything poisonous ever growing on the trail, but he never knew what could have sprung up in his absence. The trail was usually kept pretty clean, however. It had to be if they wanted to get to town.

The forest finally ended and Shadow sighed twice, first in relief, then in exasperation. Once the forest ended came a large muddy hill that led up to their little house, with large rocks used as stepping stones. Shadow readjusted his pack again, starting to slowly climb up the large grey boulders.

He paused to slightly wonder what the others were doing right now. Dark, Orange, and Navy were probably in bed by now.

Shadow sighed again as he continued climbing. He could only hope that Maroon had left the door open for him.

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><p><strong>So, how do you like it? Questions? Comments? Review! Also I'm <em>not<em> quitting Sick Day FSA. This is just a little something for my writers block. By the way, if you have read Sick Day FSA, you might want to go back and check it again. I added some more parts to Chapter 4. Let me know if you see any errors that I can correct! Oh, and kudos if you can figure out who the other four's light-selves are!**

- French Fry Girl


	2. Maroon Link Day Before

**A Day In The Life Of… (Maroon Link)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend Of Zelda series. **

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><p>Maroon was tired. Maroon was <em>beyond<em> tired. The reddish-purple Shadow Link was so tired, not only because of the time of day, but because of his two 'brothers' he was currently policing.

And to think that evening started out so peacefully and had ended with such a bang.

He had heard the two of them well before they had reached the current room. They had been running around in the upper part of the house, which really should have been used as an attic, making more noise than was necessary for just running around or playing. Maroon knew well beforehand that their shouts and screams were not the playful or friendly kind. He had been sitting in what could have been considered the living room of their small house, which was built more upwards than outwards. He was sitting on one of his somewhat comfy chairs when the two of them had almost tumbled down the steps of the staircase, fighting over a rod shaped item. Maroon had been reading in whatever faint light was left in this shadowy Realm, relaxing himself slightly before he went to bed. Dark was off to his left, which was technically the right of their house, in the kitchen, wringing his hands together, waiting to go to bed.

Orange and Navy had come screaming down the stairs, an icy blue and fiery red rod in their hands, the icy blue end with the blue bulb facing up and towards Navy the orange-ish red bulb pointing towards Orange.

"Orange! Give it back!" Navy screamed, giving the rod a strong tug in his direction.

"No! I had it first!" Orange yelled back pulling the rod back towards him with equal force.

"I said, 'Let go of it,'!"

"No! It's mine!"

"You said I could have a turn!"

"No! It's mine!"

"But I wanna use it!"

"No! I had it first!"

"I want to use it!"

"You can have it back when I'm done!"

"_Orange!_"

"_Navy!_"

Maroon sighed and got up from his seat, his book shutting closed with a _snap!_. It was clear to him that the two of them weren't going to stop anytime soon. With a huff, he blew some of his deep violet hair out of his deep blue eyes. The Maroon clad Shadow Link marched towards his two bickering 'brothers' his long somewhat swirly hat tailing out behind him as he walked. He separated the two of them and dragged them closer to the middle of the living room, intending to sit them down and settle the argument, but had no such luck as the two of them continued to struggle with each other even within Maroon's grasp.

Which finally led back to where he was now.

"Let go a me, Maroon! I'm gonna-" Orange started to protest.

"Yeah! Let go a me, Maroon! I wanna-" Navy joined in, cutting off his orange-ish colored counterpart.

"QUIET! THE BOTH OF YOU!" Maroon shouted over his quarrelling 'brothers', yanking them each in and opposite direction.

The rod pulled out horizontally between the two now instead of vertically, but neither of them relinquished their grip on it.

Instantly, however, the two Shadow Links shut their mouths with a _click!_, their widened deep blue eyes now on their Maroon clad counterpart. Their swirly long hats, which had been standing straight up as if they had a mind of their own, rising with their emotions, instantly leveled out to a much calmer state.

"But, Maroon-" Both of them started to protest.

"No 'buts'," Maroon said, taking hold of the rod himself in the middle of it where the two colors seemed to swirl, "Let go of the rod," he told them, making his voice firm.

Both of them glared at each other for a few more moments, neither wanting to relinquish their hold on the rod first, glaring down abhorrence at each other before both backing down and letting go of the rod. Their hats had also fallen a bit more, but only slightly. Their tips still lashed out behind them like an angry cat flicking its tail.

The rod fell into Maroon's hand as the two of them let go. He sighed slightly, twirling the rod so that one end rested in his hand, the other digging into the carpeted floor.

"What are you two _doing_?" Maroon asked exasperated.

Navy pointed at Orange, "He said that I could have a turn at it when he was done with it!"

Orange pointed at Navy, "And I told him, 'I'll be done with it when I'm done with it,'!"

Maroon sighed again.

"Orange it's not nice to tell your brother that you'll let him have the rod and then hog it all the time," Maroon turned to Orange.

"HA!" Navy shouted at him.

"Navy, It's not nice to laugh at him. It's Orange's rod and he should be able to do whatever he wants with it. If he says, 'Don't touch it,' then don't touch it," Maroon turned to Navy.

"HA!" Orange shot back.

"It doesn't matter anyways. It's time for bed you two," Maroon told them.

"Aww," they chorused together.

"Aaawwwwww, but Maroooooon," Orange started to whine.

"No 'buts'," Maroon reminded them.

Maroon turned around to see Dark standing there, finally coming out of the kitchen, looking at the three of them surprised and a little startled.

Now, Dark wasn't an original part of the Shadow Four/Five Swords Team. In fact he came in much later, when he was a lot younger. You see, Dark was not the same one that most people think of from Ocarina Of Time. That Dark did exist out there somewhere, but it was not this Dark. No, this Dark was much younger than even the Shadow Four Swords Team. By about a year or two. He had come in as another lost shadow, probably either looking for a way home or a home itself. He didn't say or remember much when he got there either, and when asked about his parents he kept drawing up a blank. That was the thing about some of the shadows here. Sometimes their parents could be gone and their light selves' not, sometimes it was the other way around. Sometimes both of them could lose their parents sometimes neither. Even still, it was rare to find a Shadow Hylian wandering like this. They couldn't quite explain it, but by that time they had already felt some sort of kinship with the poor boy and decided to take him in. Besides, he did help with their adventure a lot. Most may have thought that they would turn the boy away, or that they were all just plain mean to each other. This was not the case, it was just a common misconception about Shadow Hylians. And, given the world that they lived in who could blame them?

Dark was still standing there clutching the sides of his black tunic, red-ish eyes shifting back and forth between the three of them. He was able to see them even through his black bangs, which was a stark contrast between his pale skin.

Maroon turned back to the two Shadow Links, "Now I want both of you to apologize to Dark for scaring him, and to each other for this ridiculous fight."

Both of them sighed.

"We're sorry, Dark," Orange apologized first.

"Yeah, we're sorry," Navy was next.

"I wasn't scared. Just a little startled," Dark answered back, though his voice was very quiet.

Orange and Navy faced each other again.

"Sorry, bro," Orange apologized a little grudgingly.

"Yeah. I'm sorry," Navy apologized in about the same manner.

Maroon sighed knowing that that was about as close as he was going to get and got ready to send them to bed. He put the rod down leaning it against the couch.

It had been hard for Maroon, trying to act almost like a father figure to them all. Their parents had gone off to fight Ganondorf and Vaati/Gufuu when they took over. Most people would have thought that Ganondorf had always ruled over this land, or that almost everybody liked him there. This was actually not the case. Ganondorf had merely come in and taken over. Their parents had gone in to try and fight him off, but there wasn't much that they could do. After all, Ganondorf had the Triforce Of Power, which emitted such a blinding light on command. With something like that in the Realm Of Shadows it was somewhat easy to subdue the rebels and crush the rebellion.

The last he heard they were probably somewhere in hiding.

"C'mon you guys, it's time for bed," Maroon reminded them.

Orange looked like he was about to protest, but closed his mouth when he decided against it.

He walked over to Dark, "C'mon, cuz. Time for bed," He said.

The three of them went upstairs, Navy making it up first Orange and Dark close behind.

"You guys go on. I'll be up in a few minutes," Maroon said as he watched them go up the steps opposite the ones that they had almost been crashing down earlier.

"Okay," Was the only reply that he got from all three of them.

And with that, Maroon slowly went around the house, making his nightly rounds. He checked just about every room, which wasn't much as the house was very small, shutting off the lights, closing windows and shutting doors. The lights weren't very bright like most people would find in a common household. No, instead of large, fluorescent lights, these gave off more of a very soft glow, almost like luminescent moss.

Maroon paused at the front door, remembering that their 'cousin' Shadow, was going to be visiting them. He stopped at the latch and decided to leave it unlocked knowing that Shadow didn't have a key.

With his routinely check over of the house done, he went upstairs with the others to go to bed, the stair steps creaking under his weight. He turned right at the top of the stairs and entered a long hallway with their bedrooms in it.

Their bedrooms went in the order of Shadow, Orange, Navy, Maroon, and Dark. Maroon entered his own room, closing the door behind him, and pulled out his pajamas. They were a light-ish purple color, like a bit of a lavender, but they were used so much that now they almost looked like they had faded into a pink.

Maroon carefully took off his black boots, placing his clean white socks inside of them. Then he took off his swirly hat and folded it and placed it next to his boots.

His feet could finally feel the soft, still-somewhat-plush-but-slightly-worn, carpeting beneath him. It was a dark purple-ish color, somewhat like the walls and the rest of his room.

The walls were a royal-purple color, white trimming around the tops and bottoms of it. The ceiling was a stark white, with a popcorny effect to it. There was a wooden fan with four blades and a light bulb attached to it attached to the ceiling. The fan, however, had either not been working right or not working at all for quite some time.

There was a small window on the other end of the room, where he could gaze out at the nearly endless stretch of forest that encompassed their house on nearly all sides. If he looked out far enough into the distance, he could just barely make out a mountain peak, just beyond the high reaching trees.

The shimmery violet-ish, lavender curtains fluttered softly in the small breeze. Maroon went over to shut the window. He gazed out a bit longingly at the mountaintop. It seemed so sheltering, and yet so foreboding at the same time.

With a sigh, Maroon shut the window.

He padded across the room softly opening one of the two doors side by side. The left one led to a bathroom, the right one led to a small closet. Maroon reached for the dull brass knob and opened up the wooden door on the left.

Maroon entered the small bathroom, which was really more of a half bath. It was very small, with small lavender tiles covering the floor, and a lighter shade of purple than what was painted on in his room covering the walls. A small porcelain toilet was up against the upper wall, a matching white sink beside it. The ceiling was the same white as his room, with same popcorny effect to it.

With another sigh, Maroon sat down and began shedding his clothes, quickly replacing them with his pajamas. The Maroon colored tunic, with the lighter colored undershirt underneath, along with the white leggings, and the dark brown belt with the shiny yellow-ish buckle were now scattered across the floor. The soft lavender-ish pants were now tied on his legs. The top part of Maroon's pajamas was now draped around his shoulders, still unbuttoned.

Maroon gathered up his clothes and left the bathroom, shutting the door as he went. When he sat down on his bed he quickly and silently buttoned up his nightshirt. Then he took his clothes and folded them away into his drawer, which sat on the opposite side of the bed. The actually bed that he was now sitting on was slightly soft, but mostly firm. Some sheets and a thick royal purple comforter were on top of it, though Maroon could see the blankets starting to thin. He climbed into the bed, his head hitting the soft white pillow which he fluffed up a few times before laying down.

Maroon laid on his back, mentally started going over every room in the house trying to make sure that they were locked up tight. All the doors and windows that he could think of were shut and locked, besides the front door.

Again, he really wondered if that was such a wise move, but Shadow needed some way to get in.

After waiting for a few more minutes, he thought that he heard voices. Maroon's long, Hylian-tipped ears twitched slightly to hear better.

Sure enough, it seemed like Orange and Navy were talking with one another again.

The two of them truly got along fairly well, that small spat earlier that evening was just part of their routine. Almost like true brothers. While Maroon was glad that they made up, he'd prefer that the two not talk so loudly while he tried to sleep.

The two of them had drilled a small hole through their bedroom walls a while ago, and then covered it up with picture frames. They used this to talk with each other for all hours of the night, and tonight was no exception.

Maroon got up and went out of the room and into the hallway. He went right in the middle of the orange and navy blue painted doors, where, sure enough, the voices were coming from.

"Go to bed you two," he said loud enough for them to hear.

Instantly the two voices stopped. And then-

"Good night, Maroon. Good night, Navy. Good night, Dark," Came Orange's voice.

"G'night, Maroon. G'night, Orange. G' night, Dark," Came Navy's reply.

"Good night, Orange. Good night, Navy. Good night, Dark," Maroon replied his two 'brothers'.

Maroon sat still for a few moments, sure that Dark was asleep, and then-

"Good night, Orange. Good night, Navy. Good night, Maroon," Dark's quiet voice floated from his bedroom.

"Good night, Dark," Maroon said one last time before entering his room.

Maroon quickly laid down on his bed and flipped over on his stomach, his deep violet hair falling over his now closing deep blue eyes.

Now all that Maroon had to worry about was Shadow getting there on time.

And with that he was asleep.

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><p><strong>Again, please tell me what you thought. We get a little more insight into each of their characters, now, so it should be easier to tell who's who. However, don't forget that these are the <em>Shadow<em> Links, and not the others. Their personalities don't exactly have to match up. Again, kudos if anyone can match the Light and the Shadow Links! Let me know if you see any corrections that I can make!** - French Fry Girl


	3. Orange Link Day Before

**A Day In The Life Of… (Orange Link) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend Of Zelda series. **

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><p>It had all started with four words. Just four simple words.<p>

"Shadow is coming over."

And that was enough to send Orange off like a rocket.

After getting another confirmation from his 'brother', Orange had swept around their small home, tidying up and cleaning up whatever he could find. Maroon seemed to be glad with the extra help, too.

Orange had scrubbed up just about everything that he could. After all of this long and exhausting work it was finally the evening either of or before he would get there. The forests outside their home take time to navigate, ya know.

So, Orange had finally gone upstairs while his 'brother' Maroon put the finishing touches on the house. Orange had brought his magic rod up with him, hoping to polish it up some before his 'cousin' got over there.

Orange pulled out a bottle of his special wax, and began to try and polish the rod until it shined.

Of course, this was near impossible to get done with so little light around, but he was sure that he could make do.

Orange had wound his way up the staircase, leaving Maroon, Dark, and Navy behind. The steps creaked as he came up, but he didn't mind. That was pretty normal around their house.

Orange had stepped into the upper room that really could have been used as an attic. There were now finally windows up there, instead of just a bunch of wood and nails covering it up so nothing could come in from there. It was a small room, really. Just like the rest of the house. The high, arching ceiling gave off the impression that there was more room up there than there really was.

However, that was exactly what Orange wanted. Instead of staying on the now white carpeted floor, Orange called on his powers and sprang up to the rafters overhead.

Orange floated down gently, landing easily on one of the rafters above him. Orange really hoped the Maroon wouldn't come up here and find him like this again.

Maroon had specifically warned all three of them to be careful around the rafters.

In fact, he warned Orange about just about everything.

Don't jump on the beds, you'll break a spring. Don't bounce around on the couch, you'll break even more springs. Don't climb up on the rafters, you could hurt yourself. Don't light random things on fire, blah blah blah. Don't freeze your 'brother' into an ice block, blah blah blah. Don't twirl that rod in the house, blah blah blah. Don't do this, don't do that, don't do blah blah blah blah.

Maroon was such a killjoy.

Orange had looked down at the rod in his hands to see that while all this was going through his head, he was scrubbing his rod furiously. He looked at the sides of it hoping that he didn't make a scratch or a dent in it. Instead, he found it gleaming back up at him now that all the grime had been washed away.

Orange sigh, he guessed that Maroon was just trying to protect them, but really, what was gonna happen?

Orange stared down at the rod in his hands. It was a beautiful piece of equipment. It was a stunning icy blue on one end, an amazing fiery red on the other. If one looked closely enough, they could see two switches, one on either side. These were for opening the fuel compartments within them. In one of them he would pour a slightly heated magic liquid, in the other a slightly chilled one. In the middle of the rod, if one looked closely enough, they could even see a little yellow dot in the middle, which was like a rod inside the rod. What this really did was separate the two compartments, so that one side did not get overheated and the other did not get cooled down. If that were to happen the rod might cease to work entirely.

Orange watched as the rod almost seemed to sparkle in his hands, and not because of the waxing either.

The rod always seemed to glow in his hands, whether it was polished or not. It wasn't a harsh kind of light either. It was… gentle, pulsating, radiating with life almost. Orange thought it weird that the light was almost comforting to him. It made him feel… special, in a way, almost. Unique. It made him feel important that the rod sparkled for almost no one else but him.

Orange could feel its energy pulsing through to his hands. The strength of a raging, burning, blistering fire in his left, the force of the comforting, icy, freezing, blinding chill of cold in his right.

Orange knew how special this rod was and he still got a thrill nearly every time that he used it. The shimmering of the rod was a sign of a special connection. If the rod where to run out of magical energy, then Orange could just drain his shadow magic into the rod and use that instead. Of course, this was only used sparingly, because wasting up shadow magic could drain him very quickly. Just like using light magic could drain someone else. Plus, if he poured too much of his energy into the rod it could be dangerous for him.

Orange continued to polish his extraordinary piece of equipment when he heard footsteps on the stairs. He turned his head slightly to get a good look at who was coming up. It was a pretty good thing that the rafters provided an amazing vantage point.

Instead of Maroon, like Orange thought that it would be, it was Navy, coming up with his own weapon in hand, a bottle of his own, different kind of polish tucked into his belt, a rag slung over his shoulder.

Navy didn't bother to look around for Orange when he didn't see him in the room. He knew where he was.

Orange looked back at his rod, then back at Navy, who was sitting on the floor on the opposite side of the room from him.

Navy had his stunning metal hammer in his hands, a rag in his right, holding the hammer across his lap with his left. It was an amazing golden–ish color. It wasn't truly golden like most people would think. It wasn't even golden plated. It was made up of some rare type of metal, one only found in certain places. Orange wasn't exactly sure what it was. There was also a shiny, shimmery, blue gem embedded in the face of the hammer. Orange oftentimes had to wonder why the gem didn't break on contact with the ground. Certainly there was enough force behind the thing to do it. The thing looked more like the Megaton hammer than anything.

In fact, Orange was sure that this was why Navy hadn't brought the hammer up to the rafters in the first place. It would be way too hard to balance on the skinny beams of wood with a weapon as massive as that. It was impressive that Navy was even able to lift such a thing.

Orange looked back at his rod again, which was now almost sparkling clean with the wax that he scrubbed on it, then he glanced back at Navy one last time. Deciding to keep Navy company, he grabbed his bottle of wax and his rag and stuck the rod in his hand.

Orange leapt off of the rafters, his powers slowing him down as he neared the floor. He landed quietly and glanced back at Navy.

Navy stopped polishing for a moment, acknowledging his presence, and then gave a small nod. Orange nodded back.

After that he went right back to polishing.

Orange smiled and sat down on the opposite side of the room. He turned his back to Navy, just like Navy had his back to him, and sat down Indian style.

The two of them continued to polish their weapons in peace, entering a comfortable, companionable silence. Words were not needed here. It was enough for them just to know that the other was there.

Orange had continued polishing until it seemed like it couldn't get much shinier without it clogging up the bulbs.

Orange brushed a few of his deep violets bangs out of his deep blue eyes. He started to admire his reflection in the two bulbs of his rod. His deep violet hair clashed with his orange tunic, but he didn't care. He thought that it made him look… oh, what's the word… exotic, extravagant,… eccentric,… Yeah! That's the one! Eccentric.

Orange slowly twisted the rod around. Now which one did he like better? The fiery red one made his tunic look great, but the icy blue one made his eyes sparkle. He began to just make faces in it instead.

Eventually, he started giggling to himself.

Then the question came.

"Hey, Orange."

"Yeah, Navy?" Orange looked up from his rod and over at Navy, who had also stopped polishing and turned to look at him.

"When you're done with it, can borrow your rod?" Navy asked.

"Sure, Navy. When I'm done with it," Orange answered.

_Too bad I won't be done with it for quite a while_, Orange silently added in his mind.

The two of then continued like this for a while, until-

"Orange."

"What?"

"Can I borrow your rod now?" Navy asked, growing impatient.

"When I'm done with it," Orange answered back.

A few more minutes went by.

"Orange?"

"What?" Orange asked growing irritated.

"Now?" Navy asked again, irritation becoming clear in his voice as well.

"I said, 'When I'm done with it,'!" Orange called back, annoyed that this couldn't wait until later.

He had just polished it for Pete's sake!

"Okay, how 'bout now?" Navy asked, making it clear that he wanted the rod now.

"No!" Orange exclaimed, making it clear that he didn't want him using it right now.

"Orange, quit foolin' around, jus' give the thing to me," Navy said coming closer and holding out his hands.

"What part of 'Not right now,' don'tchu get?" Orange asked, getting mad now.

"I said, 'Give me the rod,' I need it!" Navy said, now standing right next to him on his right side, ready to make a grab for it.

"I said 'no,'!" Orange cried holding it closer to him.

"I need it!"

"For what?"

"Nonna your beeswax, 'for what,' give me the rod!"

"No!"

"Orange!"

"Navy!"

The two of them glared at each other for a minute, staring each other down. The tension was building in the air.

Navy made a grab for the rod, so Orange tried to pull it away from it, but he wasn't quick enough. Navy had grabbed hold of the icy blue end of the rod, leaving the fiery red part in Orange's hands.

Orange thought that this was because Navy was secretly scared of the fire end, because of the bright light that it emitted when used. Orange could have called him a chicken, but then again, he couldn't exactly say that he wasn't scared of the bright light that the Fire portion of the Rod made himself. The Ice Rod portion was much safer. However, the Fire Rod portion was much more effective. Not that he'd every use it on one of his friends anyways.

Navy yanked on the blue part jerking Orange to his feet and pulling the rod out between them horizontally.

"Orange, hand it over!" Navy sharply tugged on it again.

"No, Navy, I don't want to," Orange tugged back hard.

The two glared at each other for a moment, letting the tension build before shattering it by pulling on it in opposite directions. The two off them started a shouting match with each shout punctuated by a strong tug or pull in their direction.

"Let go of it, Orange!"

"No, you let go of it, Navy!"

"Let go a it, I need it!"

"Nuh-uh! You don't need it for nutin'!"

"Yuh-huh! I do so need it fer somethin'!"

"You let go of it!"

"No, you let go of it!"

"You!"

"You!"

"**You**!"

"**You**!"

"_You_!"

"_You_!"

"_**You**_!"

"_**You**_!"

"_**YOU**_!"

"_**YOU**_!"

"Orange!"

"Navy!"

With a growl, Navy stopped pulling the rod towards him and charged towards Orange instead, probably intending to throw the orange clad Shadow Link off balance.

Orange, however, had the same idea and charged at Navy.

Both of them came to a halt right before they slammed into each other. All they had succeeded in doing was flipping the rod up vertically with Orange's hands on the fiery red part on the top, Navy's hands on the icy blue part on the bottom.

This resulted in both of them twisting the rod back and forth, trying to twist each other's wrists and twist it out of one another's hands.

"Let-*growl*-go-*groan*-of-*grunt*-it-*grr*!" Navy said between twists, turns, pulls, and tugs.

"No,-*grunt*-you-*groan*-go-*grunt*-of-*grr*-it-*growl*!" Orange said back between even more twists, turns, pulls, and tugs.

In their struggle with each other they had pushed themselves closer to the stairs.

They stayed at the entrance of the stairs for a moment, glaring at each other, staring each other down.

Then the tension shattered once again as they took off down the stairs, Orange in front with his hands on top of the fiery red portion, Navy close behind with his hands on the bottom of the icy blue part.

They almost tumbled down the stairs as they struggled for the rod. They had not started shouting again until they had reached the bottom of the steps.

Navy had succeeded in twisting the icy blue bulb towards the top again.

"Orange! Give it back!" Navy screamed, giving the rod a strong tug in his direction.

"No! I had it first!" Orange yelled back pulling the rod back towards him with equal force.

"I said, 'Let go of it,'!"

"No! It's mine!"

"You said I could have a turn!"

"No! It's mine!"

"But I wanna use it!"

"No! I had it first!"

"I want to use it!"

"You can have it back when I'm done!" Not that Navy had ever had it in the first place, but he had used it before, Orange didn't want him to use it right now, however, especially after he had just polished it.

"_Orange!_"

"_Navy!_"

Orange had heard a loud _snap!_ somewhere behind him, but didn't pay any attention to it.

He _did_ pay attention, however, when he felt himself being nearly lifted off the ground and dragged forcibly across the room by a very strong grip. Orange was momentarily stunned by the temporary distraction, even more so that the he forgot about Maroon, and even _more_ so by Maroon's strong grip.

He quickly overcame his shock, however, and continued to struggle within Maroon's grasp.

The both of them were dragged in front of the couch.

"Let go a me, Maroon! I'm gonna-" Orange started to protest, intending to get his rod back.

"Yeah! Let go a me, Maroon! I wanna-" Navy cut Orange off, but was soon cut off himself.

"QUIET! THE BOTH OF YOU!" Maroon shouted over his quarrelling 'brothers', yanking them each in an opposite direction.

This had only succeeded in pulling the rod out horizontally between the two of them instead of vertically, but neither of the relinquished their hold on it.

Instantly the two Shadow Links shut their mouths with a _click!_, however, Orange's widened deep blue eyes on his maroon clad counterpart.

Orange had just now realized that his hat had been standing straight up, slowly rising with his emotions. It had now instantly settled down to a much calmer state.

"But, Maroon-" Both of them started to protest at the same time.

"No 'buts'," Maroon said, then grabbed the rod in the middle of it, "Let go of the rod," He said, his voice firm.

The two of them glared down abhorrence at each other, neither wanting to relinquish their grip on the rod first. Navy's hat was flicking out behind him like an angry cat lashing out with its tail.

Orange could vaguely feel his own hat doing the same thing.

Orange let go and then Navy a snap-second later.

Orange didn't know if Maroon and Navy noticed or not, but the rod lost some of its glimmer as it left his hands.

Maroon sighed and twirled the rod around so that the fiery red bulb rested in the palm of his hand, the icy blue bulb digging into the carpet. Probably so the rod didn't accidentally set the carpet on fire.

"What are you two _doing_?" Maroon asked exasperatedly.

Navy pointed at Orange, "He said that I could have a turn at it when he was done with it!"

Orange pointed at Navy, "And I told him, 'I'll be done with it when I'm done with it,'!"

Maroon sighed again.

He turned to Orange, "Orange it's not nice to tell your brother that you'll let him have the rod and then hog it all the time."

"HA!" Navy shouted at him.

_What?_ Orange thought, _I was not hogging it, __**I just finished polishing it**__!_

Maroon turned to Navy, "Navy, It's not nice to laugh at him. It's Orange's rod and he should be able to do whatever he wants with it. If he says, 'Don't touch it,' then don't touch it."

"HA!" Orange shot back at Navy, glad that Maroon also sort of saw his point.

"It doesn't matter anyways. It's time for bed you two," Maroon told them.

"Aww," they chorused together.

"Aaawwwwww, but Maroooooon," Orange started to whine. Orange wanted to see when Shadow was going to get there.

"No 'buts'," Maroon reminded them.

Orange guessed that he could see Maroon's point, though. No point in being tired for when his 'cousin' got here.

Maroon turned around.

It was at that time that Orange had noticed Dark standing there, looking at the three of them surprised and a little startled. Dark was standing there clutching the sides of his black tunic, his red-ish eyes shifting between the three of them, as if waiting for another fight to break out.

Orange wondered how Dark could even see through his thick black bangs, which made his incredibly pale skin stand out even more.

Maroon turned back to the two of them and said, "Now I want both of you to apologize to Dark for scaring him, and to each other for this ridiculous fight."

Both Orange and Navy sighed.

"We're sorry, Dark," Orange had decided to apologize first for the both of them.

"Yeah, we're sorry," Navy said next, backing up Orange.

"I wasn't scared. Just a little startled," Dark answered back, though his voice was very quiet.

Orange and Navy faced each other again.

"Sorry, bro," Orange apologized a little grudgingly, still a little bit upset about the whole thing, but willing to let it go.

"Yeah. I'm sorry," Navy apologized in about the same manner, looking a little bit tired.

Maroon sighed, probably knowing that this was about as close as he was going to get. He put the red down leaning it fiery red bulb up, icy blue bulb down.

"C'mon you guys, it's time for bed," Maroon reminded them, sounding a little tired himself.

Orange was about to protest, but closed his mouth when he decided against it. Again, better to be rested up for when his 'cousin' got there.

Orange walked over to Dark, "C'mon, cuz. Time for bed," He said.

He slung his arm around Dark's shoulder in a brotherly gesture, quickly picking up his rod when no one else was looking, letting it start to shimmer and glimmer again in his hands.

The three of them went upstairs, Navy making it up first, Orange and Dark close behind, Orange still gripping Dark's hand.

"You guys go on. I'll be up in a few minutes," Maroon told them as he watched them go up the steps opposite the ones that they had almost been crashing down earlier.

"Okay," Was the only reply that he got from all three of them.

Dark smiled up at the two of them and they both smiled back, the mutual message was that all was forgiven.

Orange led Dark back up the stairs, letting go of his hand when they reached the top.

There were five doors up there. Their rooms went in the order of Shadow, Orange, Navy, Maroon, and then Dark.

Orange motioned over to Dark's door and told him to "Go to bed."

Dark nodded and hurried towards his room. Orange smiled at him and a quick glance in Navy's direction told him that he was smiling, too.

Orange turned to Navy.

"So,…" He started.

"So…?" Navy asked.

"Are we cool now?" Orange asked extending his hand.

Navy looked at his hand for a minute before saying, "Yeah, man, we're cool now," before taking Orange's hand in his own.

Orange, glad that they made up, thanked him and went to his room.

Orange's room had a very similar layout to Maroon's. The walls we're all painted orange, an awfully bright color for this shadowy realm. The carpet was an even lighter orange-ish color, one that always reminded him of cream soda. The ceiling was white, with a white metal fan hanging from the ceiling. Not that it mattered anyways. The light bulb was broken and the fan was busted. On Orange's right was his bed, covered in orange and white stripped sheets and a thicker orange comforter. To Orange's left was a wooden dresser. Past Orange's bed were two doors. One was a closet, the other a bathroom.

There was also a picture frame with a picture of an orange tree painted in pastels on the wall above Orange's bed. This covered up the small hole that Orange and Navy had drilled through to each other's room a while ago. They used this to talk to each other at night. Navy's side was covered by a picture of a blueberry bush. If one had to something to say to one another they merely had to knock on the wall or something to get the other's attention, and then lift up the picture frame to talk to one another. Of course, if they didn't want to talk, or were asleep, or something else, that's what the picture frames were there for, for privacy.

Orange sighed and went over to his dresser to grab his pajamas. Orange pulled out a pair very similar to Maroon's, but of course, in a different a color. The bottoms were Orange and white stripped, again making him think of creamsicle. The top was originally an orange-ish color, but it had become very faded over time, now looking like a very pale orange color like his pants, and, in some places, it even looked pink!

Orange sighed again hoping that there was some way to fix this.

No sooner had Orange finished examining his pajamas, than he heard a _creeeeeak_-ing noise next door.

Orange had then heard incredibly quiet footsteps on the ground, like that of someone quickly hurrying down the stairs. He strained his ears to listen for anymore.

Orange quickly heard the sound of more footsteps hurrying back up the stairs, but on the other side of the house. He then vaguely remembered that Navy had left his hammer upstairs/in the attic.

There were no more footsteps for a while, then back down the stairs, then back up, across the hall and through Navy's bedroom door.

Orange smiled and relaxed some. He wondered how Navy had avoided Maroon while he was taking his nightly rounds.

Orange tossed his swirly hat and black boots to the side, his white socks landing on top of them. He made his way into the bathroom, which was again about the same layout as Maroon's.

The tiles on the floor were a light orange color, the walls a bright orange color. The ceiling was white. A porcelain toilet was up against one wall, a matching sink with a small mirror up against the other.

Orange quickly stripped off the orange tunic, the lighter orange undershirt, the white tights and the brown belt with the shiny, swirly metal buckle. Then he tugged on the orange and white striped pants, quickly doing up the drawstring. Next he tugged on the shirt, quickly and quietly doing up the buttons.

Orange went over to the sink and grabbed his toothbrush. He got it wet then dabbed some toothpaste on the bristles. The clear, neon orange brush just went slowly around in circles, going through the motions automatically as he let his mind go blank.

Maroon was probably one of the only ones who did all of this stuff ahead of time, and now Orange was beginning to see why.

Even though he said that he wanted to wait up for Shadow moments before, his eyes now felt heavy and droopy, like he was going to fall over asleep into the sink at any moment.

Orange quickly gargled and spat out the rest of his toothpaste, wiping off his brush and sticking it back on the sink.

Looking up into the mirror he ran a hand through his hair, vaguely wondering if he needed a shower. He decided against it and to wait for tomorrow when he would be more awake and wouldn't fall asleep in the shower.

Orange stepped out of the bathroom and into his bedroom. He took the rod that was leaning up against his bed and leaned it up against the wall next to where his clothes were.

Orange sat down on his bed, which sank down a little bit beneath him. The mattress was very plush, easily giving way whenever Orange had shifted. However, there were several springs broken from when he decided to use it as a trampoline.

Orange smiled as he thought of that. Good times, good times. Or, at least, they were, until he hit his head on the ceiling. Hard.

Orange suppressed at laugh at the thought of seeing birds and stars after that.

A sigh escaped his lips as he finished laughing. He was tiring quickly and he knew it. When had his energy started going so fast? Maybe it was the fight?

Orange flopped over on to his bed, laying on his back staring at the ceiling.

Deep blue eyes had eventually wandered up and over to the picture of the orange tree just above his bed. He silently gazed at the green grasses depicted on it, slowly wandering up the tree trunk to the fertile looking leaves, and eventually to the great, bright, blue expanse of sky above it.

Orange had vaguely wondered where the picture had come from, but it certainly wasn't from here.

A feeling of restlessness had washed over him and he knew that he couldn't sleep just quite yet.

Orange pushed himself out of bed and over to the window. He quickly undid the latch with a quiet _click!_, and hoisted the bottom half of it up to silently connect with the top half. He silently gazed out at the landscape before him.

Orange's blue eyes swept slowly across the sea of trees that surrounded their little house. Of course, it had more space than most thought if you counted that it expanded upwards instead of outwards, but that didn't really matter to Orange right now. The tops of almost all the trees that he saw were either black, dark green, or some other blackened color that Orange could not make out. As his eyes shifted to the ground, most of which was thickly overshadowed by the trees, all he could see was more varying shades of black, dark, green, and other dark colors to make up the grass, or maybe, sometimes, even no grass at all.

With agonizing slowness he turned his eyes to the sky, as if expecting it to change at any moment. Nope. There was still a thick, heavy cloud cover full of blackened clouds, covering up whatever sky was there.

It had been like this for ages. Day in, day out. Night in, night out. Day by day, week by week, month by month, almost year by year.

Once or twice, Orange had thought that he had seen the sky. In reality he had only caught a few quick glimpses. Almost every time he did though, the color seemed to change. Often times it seemed black, but lacked the rolling patterns of the clouds. Other times it would almost look like a midnight blue. Once or twice, he would catch a sight of some hazy purple or maybe even a stunning electric green. But, where was this bright, pale blue color?

There had only been one time when Orange had seen a large expanse of sky.

It was on one of Shadow's visits. Shadow was sitting out on one of the strangely grassy hills, just staring out at the sky. Orange had wondered what was so interesting about it until he looked up for himself. There above the grassy hill that he was sitting on, was a huge, long, expanse of the sky. It seemed to be almost all black like nearly all of the other times that he had seen it. However, what caught his attention was the huge glowing orb way up in the sky. Somewhere in the back of Orange's mind he vaguely remembered that it was called the moon. Orange was so entranced by the moon that he didn't notice what Shadow was doing. When his attention had finally snapped back to the current situation, Orange had noticed that Shadow was holding something. A small flower, it looked like. Shadow was slowly twisting the plant around in his fingers. It was a strange plant to find a place such as this, a stem and petals that you could actually _see_ the green on, with strange dusk violet colored petals.

Shadow slowly held the plant upwards towards the moon, and the wind had seemed to pick up at that moment carrying the plant straight out of his hands, into the wind, and out over the hill, the wind tearing at it as it went.

It was around then that Orange had snapped out of his daze. He quickly checked himself over, remembering that the moon was a _glowing_ object. Orange quickly feared that the light would hurt him, but it soon passed as he realized that the light that it gave off did not burn his skin, and that it was almost comforting, like that of the lamps that they had used at home. Plus, it didn't burn Shadow, so that meant that he was safe, right?

Shadow had seen him around this time and gotten up to take him home. As he did so the clouds had started to cover the area up again. Orange didn't remember much about it, but he could have sworn that he heard Shadow singing.

_Trees of sweet green, make the grasses grow lean, _

_Trees of shadowed gray, saps the ground's strength away, _

_Clouds of gentle white, seeps through the light, _

_Storms of strong might, give way to the night. _

_So I look to the sky, _

_And I wonder why? _

_Will the sun's golden light ever shine? _

_Or will only the moonlight ever be mine? _

Orange had thought that there was more to it, but that's all that he could remember for right now.

Orange sighed as he stared out blankly, only vaguely aware of what was going on around him. The wind had picked up slightly tousling his hair. The wind was freezing, but it felt very good.

Orange sighed again as he pulled his head in, reached up, and shut the window with a _snap!_, _click!_-ing the lock back into place as he did so.

Orange flopped back on to his bed, about to think about that one night with Shadow some more when he heard a _knock, knock, knock_, on his bedroom wall.

Orange was about to pass it of as nothing when he heard it again.

This time Orange turned around on his bed, reached up, and returned the sound with his own _knock, knock, knock_.

Orange heard some shuffling around in the other room, so he got on his knees and lifted the picture of the orange tree up off the wall.

On the other side of the wall, Navy had done the same thing with his picture of a blueberry bush, as Orange could now see his face on the other side of the wall.

It was a little weird to do this. It put a minor strain on their eyes. It was almost like looking through a telescope backwards.

"Hey, man," Navy greeted.

"Hey," Orange answered.

"What's up?" Orange asked when Navy didn't speak again.

"Ah, it's nothing, man, it's nothing."

Orange sighed, "Alright."

"Hey, um… sorry, ya know, about earlier," Navy apologized sheepishly.

"Nah, it's okay, man. We already 'pologized, 'member?" Orange asked, having already forgiven Navy.

"Yeah."

"Hey, Navy?" Orange asked, remembering something that he had forgotten earlier.

"Yeah?"

"What did you need my rod for, anyways?"

Orange heard a sigh from the other side.

"My… my hammer has a big, old dent in it, like part of the face is starting to chip off, and I figured that I could use your rod to weld it back together without burning myself," Navy answered.

"Oh," Orange said.

This made much more sense. Navy put a lot of work into that hammer and he probably didn't want Orange to know that he had somehow gotten a dent in it.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two for a while until Orange spoke again.

"Hey, Navy?" Orange asked again.

"Yeah?" Navy asked letting him know that he was still listening.

"Do you think that we'll ever be free?" Orange asked, the words slipping out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"From what?" Navy asked, although it sounded like he already knew the answer.

"Ya know, from all…, this," Orange gestured around him.

"I don't know, man, I don't know," Navy answered.

"Do you think I'll ever see the sky again?"

"You can see it right now," Navy replied, as if it were obvious.

"That's not what I meant. You know what I mean," Orange said, knowing that the navy blue clad Shadow Link knew what he meant, "Besides, you can't actually see the sky right now, just the black clouds, and even when you do see the sky, it's usually just all black like the clouds."

When his 'brother' was silent, Orange took that as a cue to continue.

"Sometimes I even think that I can see the sky changing colors, like to purple or green or midnight blue, but I can only catch little glimpses of it, and then it goes away. Sometimes I think that it means that I'm going crazy. I'm not going crazy, am I, Navy?"

"No, Orange, you're not going crazy, it was probably just a lightning storm or something."

"Shadow made the moon show up once, but I didn't get to see much of it."

"You've seen the moon before."

"Yeah, but not like this. It looked huge! And a lot of the sky was showing, too!"

"Maybe the clouds moved off around that section, it's happened before."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Don't worry about it, Orange. They've been there for years, they'll probably stay there for years."

Orange knew that his 'brother' was probably right. Even still, that didn't keep him from hoping.

"Hey," Navy called out when Orange was silent, probably taking his silence the wrong way.

"Yeah?" He let him know that he was still listening.

"Maybe one day we'll get to see the full sky again and then maybe we can see some off those big, old, green trees and bushes, too."

"M'kay."

There was a very small pause of silence.

"Navy?"

"Yeah, Orange?"

"Are y-"

"Go to bed you two," Maroon's voice floated in from the hallway, loud enough for them to hear.

They both stopped talking and Orange stared at his door for a moment.

"_Guess it's time for bed,_" Navy whispered to him.

"_Yeah, I guess so,_" Orange whispered back.

"_What were you going to ask anyways?_"

"_If you were tired yet._"

"_A little._"

"_Me, too._"

"Good night, Maroon. Good night, Navy. Good night, Dark," Orange raised his voice slightly so Maroon and Dark could hear. Dark was probably in bed already, but Orange called out to him none the less.

"G'night, Maroon. G'night, Orange. G'night, Dark," Navy's voice also rose in volume to make sure that the others could hear him.

"Good night, Orange. Good night, Navy. Good night, Dark," Maroon called out to them.

Even though he had already said goodnight, Orange didn't hear or feel Maroon's presence leave.

"Good night, Orange. Good night, Navy. Good night, Maroon," Orange barely heard Dark's voice calling out to them.

So _that's_ what he was waiting for. Maroon had said something else that Orange couldn't quite pick up, then walked back to his room.

He then heard some shuffling in Navy room and he knew that Navy had gone to bed as well, even though he couldn't see it now that the picture frame was back in place.

Orange sighed softly as he slipped his picture frame back into place and under the covers.

He glanced up one more time at the beautiful blue sky in the beautiful pastel painting.

And with that he rolled on to his right side and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>So, how did everybody like it? You get to see Orange and Navy's weapons, as well as see their personalities a little more, with the details about Orange's side of the fight filled in. I think that it's pretty obvious who's who by now, but I'll hold off on saying for sure for those of you still guessing. Also, kudos to Shadow-TheLastHero for getting them all right! So, for those of you still guessing <em>NO PEEKING!<em> Thank you for reading and I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as my laptop (and school and homework) allow me. **

- French Fry Girl


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